Visitors from India, including members of same family, believed killed in horror M1 crash

Eight members of the same family, visiting the UK from Kerala, are believed to have been killed in a horror crash involving two trucks and a minibus the victims were travelling in near the town of Milton Keynes.

Four others – including a 5-year-old girl – were injured and are receiving treatment in hospital.
The crash occurred on the busy M1 motorway at the beginning of the August Bank Holiday weekend when millions of Britons take to the roads for trips across the UK.

Police said the drivers of the two trucks were arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. One of the men was also suspected of driving over the alcohol limit.

The vehicles involved in the crash were all traveling in the same direction.

The four injured were believed to have serious or life-threatening injuries.

Brett Smith, a witness of the crash, told The Sun newspaper that he helped rescue a young girl confined in the minibus.

“A family has been destroyed. I held a little girl by her arms, trapped inside a vehicle, for a good hour or so with the emergency services and the fire service trying to help” Smith said.

“I’m walking home with a blanket that the ambulance service provided me to stay warm because the little girl has got my jacket to keep herself safe.”

The minibus had been hired by an Indian family travelling from Nottingham to Wembley in North-West London.

From there, the 11 passengers were due to go on a coach journey around Europe, according to the Daily Mail quoting friends.

Some of the victims worked in Nottingham for an IT firm, while the rest were relatives visiting from the Indian city of Madras.

Their driver, Cyriac Joseph, who owned the minibus company, was also killed in the collision.